The man is a hero, Spoons is holding the industry together and providing a social service as well. Go in one and you see everyone, groups, couples, singles, men, women, families, it is the only place where you feel that you are not judged once inside, noone is better than anyone else, however they dress or look. Local communities meet up there, it is like the well in the past, everyone is welcome. Well done Tim, you are a truly making a difference to our culture. Good interview Simon, good to see a bit of Brighton too.
Max respect to Tim... Wetherspoons are an amazing chain, with superbly clean toilets and amazingly cheap prices across the board, for the people of all backgrounds. A pint of crystal cold Strongbow, in a Strongbow pint glass, £2.75... THE 'Regal' in Cambridge. Good job Tim...
Our local Wetherspoons in Caerphilly was the first place to give our young son a job after a year of applying elsewhere. It's a great pub and he is loving his shifts. Thanks Tim, we have also purchased some shares.
I've just come back from a weekend at the King's Head Inn hotel in Salisbury. Great building, lovely location, very nice room, good price, cheap food and drink. I've stayed at seven of their hotels now and eaten at 80 of their pubs - highly recommended!
Excellent piece. I visited a Wetherspoons in Portsmouth recently and was astounded how busy it was and the way it brought locals (many pensioners) together.
The wetherspoons at Ilfracombe is amazing. It takes centre stage on a run down beach front street and keeps the place alive. The staff are all friendly.
Love Wetherspoons - what's not to like about lovely buildings and cheap drinks? Also like the hotels - good value, good breakfasts. Plus Wetherspoons pubs actually feel (almost) like pubs used to do - actual conversations, mixture of people 👍👍👍 great business model Tim
I met Tim when I worked at "The Shakespeares Head" pub in Holborn London about 25 years ago. I sat down with him and my manager and had a pint and a bite to eat, he was such a lovely bloke, and a great orator.
I was on holiday in Milton Keynes at the weekend and called into the Wetherspoons there and got a few nice choices off the menu. It only came to 9 pounds. I had to ask - 'are you sure?'. The prices are so good and the quality was great. I have to add that the staff were very friendly as well.
@@michaelconnolly7681 I live in Newport Pagnell. You should check out Stony Stratford next time too. Nice little town. Glad you enjoyed it. Whenever friends from around the country come to visit, they always seem quite surprised due to the bad reputation the city seems to have.
Everybody likes it. Middle-class with money, self employed, low wage earners, unemployed, pensioners, single people, married couples, families with kids, the young, middle aged and old . I never used to be a big fan of spoons but since the cost of living crisis and pubs ripping everyone off, spoons is now my first choice anywhere I go ,@@spudspuddy
"The name of the business originates from JD, a character in The Dukes of Hazzard, and Wetherspoon, the surname of one of Martin's teachers in New Zealand, who had told him that he thought he would never amount to much".
Recently spent three weeks in a hotel next to a ‘spoons on one side and a Starbucks on the other. I’ll never work out how a coffee in one cost me nearly twice as much as a pint in the other
I've met so many friends in pubs. The high costs of having a couple on the way home from work is destroying that form of contact. I wish that a chain had the nous to compete with Wetherspoons, and open up the market - but nobody's tried.
I was in Spoons in Old Trafford last Tuesday I think it was, about 1.30 and I looked up at a guy, I thought that looks like sir Tim Wetherspoon and blow me it was. He was sat there taking it all in, before making his presence known. Needless to say, he didn't get a round in.🤣🤣🤣
Was at the pre-opening of the Weatherspoons, Wick, Far North, Scotland. It was housed in a three floored excellent old Post Office. After that I was a frequent customer. There is never a stilted atmosphere in any "Spoon" which seems to be part of the sucess story. I also had used the PO before it's transformation. I remeber that PO smell and happy to say banished when Weatherspoons moved in. Sadly, after many years of excellence I suppose Tim Martin found it was time to move and leave "The Alexander Bain" to another group. Bain, I understand, was the local boy who created the "Fax' machine. Worth a Google for the pics and extended story. It's truly missed.
They do so many things right that the rest of the trade don't. Open every day all day. Food - if you can find a seat you can order food and it will arrive remarkably quickly even when the place is packed, no "sorry we're fully booked" or waiting for hours. Ale in good condition at the best prices - I don't expect others to be able to match their prices but the difference shows a lot are really trying it on.
How is it that Richard Branson was lauded and held up as an example for his efforts, some of which came to nought, whilst Tim Martin has been largely shunned by the establishment. Could it be that his business model treads on the toes of vested interests by the multinationals that mostly domnate the hospitality industry? £6 for a pint at my brewery owned local and £2.25 at Wetherspoons for exactly the same product.
👏 I work occasionally in a busy kitchen at Spoons and the systems and processes they have on a corporate level are astounding so I’m a huge fan of the Wetherspoon machine… 🎉
A haven for itinerant workers on limited expense accounts! (I am struggling with the mental picture of Tim in slingbacks, though!) Great magazine also.
I was unlucky enough to be subjected to an episode of the BBC's "I'm sorry I haven't a clue". Host Jack Dee made a joke about an Oxford Bullingdon club dinner getting out of hand and making £5000 worth of improvements to a Wetherspoons pub. Just another sad example of the sneering, snarky middle class establishment cess-pool who know nothing about the average Brit and wouldn't lift a finger to help them. Unlike Sir Tim . . .
Always been a Spoon fan and admire the boss as an innovator but there appears to be two chains now. The old Spoons in market towns with excellent conversios and often rooms and a god awful load of urban pubs with noticeably worse food standards. As a rule of thumb, I avoid any Spoons in a shopping centre, city centre or railway station and its working so far.
Always seek out a 'spoonz' when having a day out and have visited many branches....was in one last night three meals with drinks £28.09...never had any real issues, you pretty much know what you get....
Witherspoon in carlow the THE TULLOW GATE I was accused of abusing a member of staff court case followed and I was awarded 16 thousand ....that was 2 to 3 years ago...I am still waiting on a apology all in all with costs it cost witherspoon the best part of 30 grand....but not one word of apology..
20% of Wetherspoons pubs are fantastic in their own right and one must commend Tim Martin for some of the venues….., some are really spectacular 80% however are absolutely terrible and would be massively enhanced if there was sport and some music to give the place a bit of identity, even if it did add a little to costs. Tim Martin does also provide a service to the less well off problem drinkers across the country, in so far as they can consume their alcohol in a pub.
The lack of sport and music is one of their biggest advantages. Unfortunately they are doing the Euros just now but most of the pubs are big enough and laid out in a way that means you can ignore it.
@@grahamparker9470 One of the beer writers wrote a book a few years ago about the problems of the industry and what was being done about it. His conclusion was that the most successful theme for a pub was to be a traditional pub.
Wetherspoons is a great concept. Ale range, beautiful buildings and history explained. But in the last few years the food has turned to disgusting American junk food. 10 years ago it was great value. Big lamb shanks and mash, Sunday roast etc at great prices. Now, only the full British breakfast remains to tempt me in. If that disappears, no more. He must bring back proper British pub food.
The new business model of wetherspoons is close pubs and force everybody into one small pub. Up the prices. Over the last 10 years, the quality of food has fallen while prices have rocketed. I don't eat wetherspoons food anymore. The chip portions are half the size and now cost £5 for a small plate. We have had two local wetherspoons close, and now a third one is about to close. It will soon be the only wetherspoons within a 4 mile. radius. This is in a highly dense area of London.
It is because the cost of ingredients has shot through-the-roof after Brexit and other economic disasters. To keep their original pricing model relatively intact, they've had to simplify. They've focused on the traditional favourites. At all costs. I'm convinced that sometimes they must make a loss when they're throwing pints of Leffé into a meal deal.
@@pryan9892 A pub is a business designed to make a profit. Most spoons pubs cater to retirees. Many retirees own dogs and would frequent the pub more regularly if they could bring their dogs along.
And that in itself is a bloody good reason they don’t allow it, again just because you like dogs, so what? Go to the park and let the rest of us enjoy our drinks in a pub
People knock Witherspoon's I personally use my local one and find it great,,I'm a chef and people say things ohh the curry is frozen,go into any cafe pub,restaurant most are batched cooked,frozen and reheated for the customer,same as chilli etc,,I enjoy the mixed grill,,not enough chips but that's me ,prices have risen in the last year but with a drink remain cheap,
I feel safer in Tim’s pubs than I did on the road being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition by shape shifting woke stars up to their neck in crap samples.
